Anonymous Donor Pays for Bridport Charity Shop

The new Julia’s House charity shop located in West Street, Bridport, was only made possible thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, Julia’s House has revealed. The donor has paid for all of the alterations, building work, planning and fit-out, the total amount of which is believed to be in excess of £22,000.

The charity shop, which opened in November 2007, is a listed building and required a lot of work. Ann Scovell, Retail Manager for Julia’s House, explains: “Being an older building there was a good deal of work involved just to make the shop presentable and to comply with building and fire regulations. Added to which we needed to create a work room, a changing room and then to fit it out completely.”

Julia’s House now has six charity shops which are located in Poole, Blandford, Christchurch, Broadstone and Ferndown in addition to the Bridport shop. Gavin Fisher, Deputy Chief Executive of the charity, said: “It was important for us to have a presence in the west of the county, as we have a good supporter group here and we help many children in the area. The shop’s position is excellent and we didn’t want to let the opportunity pass us by because of the amount of work involved, so thankfully this donor has stepped in to help.”

Since opening, the charity shop has been very successful with many regular customers. However, the charity would like more volunteers to come forward to help continue the shop’s success. Anyone interested in volunteering for Dorset’s children’s hospice should call 01202 640402.

Ann Scovell continues; “Because of the generosity of this donor, we have been able to open the shop much earlier than hoped and to complete the work to a better standard. It means that more of the money the shop makes will go directly towards providing care for life-limited and life-threatened children in Dorset, rather than paying off the bills.”

http://www.julias-house.org/